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When Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced the appointment of the first women in British history to be put in charge of a frontline brigade, she was in Latvia on operation and oblivious to the whole hoopla.

“I didn’t know the announcement was going to happen,” says the 45-year-old mother-of-two, originally from Northumberland. “I guess I thought it might have happened earlier.”

It is a fair assessment because, at the time, Nesmith had already been at her new post, making her the most powerful woman in the British Army, for nearly a year. Now, with the House of Commons poised to support airstrikes against Isil in Syria, she could soon find herself in a key position at the centre of escalating world events.

At a warfare conference in London in July, Fallon used her as a prime example of military progress: “We must work smarter,” he said. “Careers must be determined by ability. Again, we are seeing progress. Women are now piloting attack helicopters and, in the case of Brigadier Sharon Nesmith, commanding their own brigade.”

A flurry of national attention followed alongside column inches and much backslapping. She must have been pleased with the sudden, if unexpected, recognition?

“Ah, well. Sort of…” Nesmith shuffles in her seat in her sprawling office at Nato Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) headquarters in Gloucester. “Don’t take this personally, but I would have rather avoided all this.”

She makes a sweeping hand gesture encompassing me, my notepad, my pen and the photographer waiting in the ranks to take her picture after our conversation, the first interview she has given since her promotion.

“But I have given myself a bit of a talking to. I have spent a career trying to avoid having that female tag. I never wanted it to be about being a female in a male environment. The only time I have felt it more apparent is on promotion to brigadier. That’s when there has been more emphasis.

“For lots of very good reasons,” she hastily adds. “It is a first, and that is a good story to tell.”

So, she’s given herself a push and is embracing her new-found fame.

Just back from a successful operation in Latvia, where she oversaw a training exercise to test her brigade’s deployment capability, she is basking in the glow of a job well done.

“It has been a long time since we’ve done an overseas deployment – and this was my first in command. Every day was a learning day. Elements of the brigade are still coming back, so it’s not over until it’s over but it went really well. I am absolutely delighted.”

"I never wanted it to be about being a female in a male environment."

Brigadier Sharon Nesmith

As commander of 1 Signal Brigade, Nesmith oversees 1,500 frontline troops who are equipped with some of the most up-to-date communications technology in the British Army. Prepared to deploy at short notice anywhere in the world, their role is to set up headquarters and communication services in hostile environments at the drop of a hat – an exercise they were trialling in Latvia.

Her meteoric rise through the ranks over a 23-year career has seen her through three tours of the Balkans and commanding a squadron while on Operation Telic in Iraq. She was inspired to join the army by her father, who was a Royal Naval Reserve Officer, and an older brother who served for 16 years and won an army scholarship age 15. After a stretch at Edinburgh University studying biological sciences, she enrolled at Sandhurst and found her calling. Since then, hard graft, 24-hour days and unwavering dedication to the organisation have seen her promoted above her male peers.

But it has been quite a slog – when she joined age 21 in 1991 women weren’t allowed to go to sea, fly in the air force and she had to sign a document saying that if she had a family she would have to leave.

“The very first regiment I joined was during the start of Bosnia under the UN and I was told that I wouldn’t be able to deploy with my troop because I was female.”

Now Nesmith says “gender being an issue like that would never ever enter anybody’s head”.

“The perception is that [the British Army] is not necessarily as fair. But I’m not sure you can have a big-bang approach to these things. It is a culture and an ethos about how we work."

But Nesmith remains optimistic that women could soon be throwing grenades at close quarters.

“I don’t think it is very far away. Institutionally, as an organisation, we are ready to make the step. What we need to be sure is, when we make that step we are setting it up for success and we have done everything that we can so we physically look after people. That is the work that is being done now. But it is about the opportunity. If that is what you want to go and do, it is about having the opportunity to do it.”

Does she think women are as emotionally strong as men? “Oh yes, without a doubt. Yes.”

But instigating change in an institution as old as the army can be akin to wading through treacle and, though hopeful, Nesmith appreciates there is little chance of an overnight solution.

Brig Nesmith, 45 - “I am lucky I have a very supportive family and husband."Credit:
Andrew Crowley

“The perception is that [the British Army] is not necessarily as fair. But I’m not sure you can have a big-bang approach to these things. It is a culture and an ethos about how we work. It is a bottom-up and top-down-driven cultural change over time. But it is absolutely happening.”

Naturally, it also takes time to grow a general, and hers is the first generation that has had more opportunities, although women still total just 10 per cent of the armed forces. In September, Susan Ridge was made director general of the army’s legal services, making her the most high-ranking woman in the army and the first major-general. Nesmith hopes to see more rise through the ranks.

“It certainly would be something that directly affects me, and I suspect that we have some way to go to understand how we can best respond to the security threat. I am not sure that boots on the ground would be the answer.”

She doesn’t elaborate, and it is the public relations officer’s turn to shift in his seat. What about a greater, permanent armed presence in London and other UK cities since the Paris attacks, does she forsee that happening in the near future?

“I don’t know is the simple answer. I suspect there will always be a review of how we ensure internal national security, so, no, I don’t, but I am probably the wrong person to ask.” The PR man later tells me this is beyond her area of expertise, hence her reluctance to be drawn further.

“The very first regiment I joined was during the start of Bosnia under the UN and I was told that I wouldn’t be able to deploy with my troop because I was female.”

Brigadier Sharon Nesmith

Physically, Nesmith has worked hard to keep pace – “there is an element of not wanting to have even a hairline crack of [people saying] ‘She’s not quite fit enough’ – so she runs marathons, goes fell running in a family home in the Lake District, cycles and skis. When it comes to leadership qualities she rates “a healthy dose of emotional intelligence” and the ability to not “take life too seriously” up there. She thinks the former is an attribute that women certainly bring to the table. Another is the reinforcement of the importance of family life for service personnel.

“I am lucky I have a very supportive family and husband. The fact that that my family life is equally as important, if not more so, than my career, that perspective is slightly different [to men] in a really good way.”

Her two sons, eight and seven years old, bring her back to reality after stints away – and are ably looked after while she is gone by her husband, Walker, 62, a tree surgeon, who does the school run as well as the lion’s share of cooking and cleaning. The family lives in service accommodation near the Nato headquarters with a black Labrador called Lottie but are uprooted with new postings. Yes, it is disruptive for the boys, she concedes, but they muddle on. While on operation she insists on a number home comforts; photos, music (Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran to run to) and a bath mat. “In my tent I have it so that when I get out of my sleeping bag I can put my feet on it,” she says, rippling with laughter.

With her blazing a trail, can we expect a female chief of general staff any time soon?